Comments on: The Extraordinary Dymaxion Automobile

By: LeifFraNorden

LeifFraNorden — Sun, 02 May 2021 21:20:02 +0000

Since this article was written, a couple of replica Dymaxion cars have been built– so the handling characteristics of the car are known. The car is dangerously unstable at speeds of 40 mph and at lesser speeds of rough roads. Fuller’s top speed of 128 mph seems a flat out lie. Dan Niel, writing in the Wall Street Journal, states: ‘Back here on Earth, the Dymaxion’s top speed is death-wish limited.’

By: jim cherry

jim cherry — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:11:08 +0000

Good summing up, but for the stated connection to Chrysler Corp. This car had nothing to do with Chrysler whatsoever. It used a Ford V8 for power. Its body was designed by famed sculptor Isamu Noguchi. There were only three or four built. One survives at a museum in Reno, Nevada, but lacks its interior.

By: JoJo

JoJo — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 23:09:19 +0000

It looks like an obese VW Minibus with a big butt!

By: medalian1

medalian1 — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 13:22:50 +0000

cool, will be a pitstop when I go to reno to see this 4 sure!

By: smokefoot

smokefoot — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 22:03:26 +0000

Another problem with the Dymaxion is that is was built very light to get 30 mpg, which means that it isn't very safe in an accident.

By: smokefoot

smokefoot — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 22:00:58 +0000

Rear wheel steering was used on airplanes exclusively until the 1940's. When front wheel steering was introduced rear wheel steering almost vanished because of the lower accident rate. The problem occurs during braking - most of the braking has to be done by the two front wheels, which means that the center of gravity is behind the main braking point. If the vehicle is not going straight then it is going to want to spin around, and will do so if the back tire loses traction.

By: Rinson Drei

Rinson Drei — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 21:01:25 +0000

It's easy to dream of the potential success of things/people cut short before their prime. I'm still hoping to see one of Buckminster Fuller's floating cities in my life time. ;^)

What would be damn interesting is a breakdown of similarly ambitious projects that were allowed to fail of their own weight. For example: if only General Motors had gone through with their 4,6,8 concept in the 70's, we could be driving 400hp cars that get 100 mpg...

By: Drakvil

Drakvil — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 05:32:23 +0000

Interesting how the Stanford page points out that after the first car, Fuller used wind tunnel testing to make the second and third cars much more able to withstand cross-winds. The shape looks like a precursor of the Airstream trailers.

I, for one, would love to get a reproduction of this car for my own use! (but with the front wheel drive that Fuller was trying to implement for the third car)

By: just_dave

just_dave — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:24:04 +0000

30mpg and 120mph? I wonder if these were just Fuller's claims or if the figures were independently verified. I question that because there doesn't seem to be any real rocket science to that machine -- it's an aluminum frame, wooden skeleton, and aluminum skin. If it were really as revolutionary as all that, the concepts behind it certainly wouldn't have died because of one accident. And if the concepts behind the car were truly valid, giving it the ability to go that fast and use so little fuel, I would think that some of that would've been adopted at some point in the last 60 years.

Am I the only one having trouble with the link to the movie? This link works better, and gets you to Stanford's site map page for the Dymaxion.

By: wxrodrig

wxrodrig — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:37:28 +0000

Heck, Chrysler had the right idea when it dropped support for this piece of junk..."Its a Zephyr on Wheels!"

And to tell you the truth, this article is not damn interesting, its boring. Its like reporting on the Gremlin, it was a wacky design, everyone sobered up after the 70's and that was it, it was tossed on the junk heap.